Masteries

Offense:
23

Defense:
6

Utility:
1

Start with Doran's Shield and Health Potion.
If you're feeling aggressive, you could do Doran's Blade, but you will get more health restored out of the Hp5 from the shield than the lifesteal out of the blade. In short- take the blade for the health/damage, NOT for the lifesteal. I still take the shield nearly 100% of the time.

Some people like to take Vampiric Scepter as their first item. Don't. You should not be constantly attacking the minions as this pushes the lane and reduces your last hitting ability. Pushing the creep line too quickly can open yourself to ganks from behind and reduced harassment ability due to tower hugging. It also opens you up to hard harassment; you get NO health regen when the enemy doesn't let you auto attack.

Other options include Ruby Crystal/Long Sword and a potion for a Phage rush (although lacking the health regen will HURT against good players/heavy harass opponents. These are options more suited for TT).

Deathfire Grasp + Ignite + AP-augmented blind puts a load of hurt out in an instant. Stronger poison from your auto-attack helps as well. Designed to have more actives and burst, it's actually becoming my favorite build. Not many expect an AP Teemo in the first place, and the DFG + Ignite + Dart + Gunblade Nuke burst is very unsettling when compared to the expected damage an ordinary Teemo would do in a half-second. Throw in the new Malady to do some AP-augmented auto-attack shredding and magical debuffing, and we have a potent lil AP squirrel.

Now that the first tick of Toxic Shot is applied on EVERY shot, more speed gives even more damage now. Powering up Teemo's Toxic Shot with AP and giving it some speed really helps shred more enemies. New Malady augments this even more! Throwing in a Gunblade gives you some more damage and lifesteal/spellvamp to keep yourself up. Throwing in a Frozen Mallet or a Banshee's Veil will give you some more survivability.

Standard DPS/Carry build. Shred through people, nice dose of poison to finish the job. Black Cleaver + Stark's Fervor + high Attack Speed = shredding through your enemy's armor very quickly. Every one of your auto attacks drops the enemy's armor by 12. Stark's drops nearby enemy armor by 25. With the suggested armor penetration runes, you will shred through squishy targets, and even scare the bulky ones that are not expecting Teemo to put out much damage. Synergizes well with other teammates, although not quite the dps-chart topper that true physical carries can become.

Shield wins. Same health given for both items. The armor helps a bit versus the all-popular AP runes that everyone takes. The 6 damage is a large bonus to start with considering the massive health bonus that comes with it. The real crux of the argument comes from the Health Regen versus lifesteal. There are two important factors that put the early Hp5 ahead of the lifesteal.

1) Harassment. A good player that can keep you off the line completely negates the (pitifully small) 4% lifesteal. Your 8 Hp5 is always going.

2) The regeneration comes from constantly attacking. 4% is tiny, and at your low damage and attack speed, this issue is magnified. This also pushes your lane faster and makes it harder to last hit (timing your animations/attack speed versus waiting for the last hits). This will also hamper your ability to farm, and NOT your opponents, as being under their tower is favorable to THEM, and not you. They can last hit as they please (certain types of minions take certain numbers of tower shots), and you cannot, as they can harass you to no end without retribution.

Long story short, 4% lifesteal is nothing. A good player is able to harass a 12% vampiric scepter player to the point of being worse off than a Doran's Shield player as well. 4% lifesteal and 120 HP or 12% lifesteal, either is easily harassable and only advisable against low-skilled opponents.

Boots
Berserker's Greaves is a common choice. I do NOT like them. Get your attack speed elsewhere. Get more beneficial effects from your boots, whether it be the increased speed of Boots of Swiftness, or the CC reduction and magic resist of Mercury's Treads. Even Sorcerer's Shoes (for AP Teemo) or Ninja Tabi are better. I don't really like Boots of Mobility either, but they're the boots that almost nobody takes, anyway.

Don't take Greaves.

New Malady

For hybrid/AP Teemo, the new {item_text=Malady] sounds like a great choice.

Speed and AP energizes with his Toxic Shot, even moreso now that they have adjusted it to do more magic damage on hit.

Armor Pen Items

Don't stack Last Whisper with a The Black Cleaver build. Changes to armor penetration make these two items not work very well with each other. Take one or the other, not both.

Poor Item Choices
Berserker's Greaves Yuck.
Trinity Force Has all of the right stats, correct? Teemo doesn't spam his abilities enough to justify the Sheen effect, or the cost of grabbing the whole item. Frozen Mallet + Zeal is better than Triforce while being ~400 gold more. Works much better on funky hybrid Teemo builds.
Lich Bane See above. More AP-oriented anyway.

Situational Item Choices/Filler Items
A list of non-core items that are situational. Take them when applicable.

Offensive
Wit's End Attack speed, magic resist, replaces Stark's Fervor on caster-heavy enemy teams. 42 damage (from the mana drained -> damage ability) is nothing to sneeze at.
Madred's Bloodrazor Against the more and more popular all-chewy/tanky teams, this will help if inserted into your build.
The Bloodthirster Pseudo-snowball effect when farmed (giving it a potential 100 Attack Damage and 25% lifesteal) Consider it when Stark's isn't too great of a choice (i.e. team comp, enemy team comp). Don't like lifesteal-based items with heavy CC flying around, though.

Defensive
PhageFrozen Mallet is a core item in most of my builds.
Banshee's Veil: Need some Magic Resist? Gives a large amount of health and mana as well. Great item BEFORE it's passive spell-blocking shield.

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Suggested Summoner Spells

My Top Two
Exhaust/Ignite and Ghost. More debuffs and damage for Teemo, plus mobility for defense and offense. Not listing Flash here because of the pending removal. Since the Cleanse nerf, I've found cleanse to be EXTREMELY situational AT BEST, and pretty much not worth taking in 90% of matches.

Other Good Combos
xxx/Flash - Currently Flash is extremely useful at the least, if not imbalanced, being an excellent defensive AND offensive spell. Flash is a great tool for finishing, juking, saving allies with a blind, ect. This is not a flash guide, so I won't list all of the intricacies associated with the spell. Suggested for the newbies who get themselves into trouble more often than not, as the game has started to shift away from flash.

Ignite/Exhaust - Very dangerous if heavy CC is present on other team. Augmented by your masteries, though, makes this combo extremely potent. Blind+Exhaust makes one-on-one fights nasty for most opponents, and the ignite packs a punch and brings additional utility. No escape aids here, though, which hurts squishy Teemo.

xxx/Teleport - With a hefty amount of mushrooms placed at strategic locations, controlling the map can lead to many gank opportunities. You can use teleport to teleport to a mushroom hidden in a bush for a silent ganking opportunity. In most cases, I do not find the added utility of teleport to be more useful than that of other combinations.

Spells I don't like:
Heal is a crutch that for MOST heroes (i.e. non-support/healing/randomness comps) isn't seen past summoner level 15.
Rally is meh, more suited for tank/support champs, if considered at all.
Fortify is meh as well, see above.
Clarity should not be ever needed.
Revive is never an option. Ever.

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Laning with Teemo

Teemo's deceptive damage output can be the downfall of his enemies. With not much burst to speak of, many enemies can be lured into a false sense of security. Rushing Phage sets up situations in which, by the time your target realizes he needs to run, it is already too late. Players of Ashe will understand this effect. The enemy stops attacking Teemo and attempts to escape, but it is too late, being slowed and poisoned, the enemy has already lost. Utilizing enemy hesitation is key.

Teemo is a middling solo, but he shines with a good partner. I'll outline the pros and cons of both:

Teemo is a very good asset to have in a side lane. Poison distribution (which I outline later in this guide) allows you to control the creep line. Poison also allows to to greatly harass enemy champions and hamper their farming. His poison in conjunction with exhaust and slows can allow for a quick early kill. His harassment utility can also keep enemy champions off of teammates that usually have difficulty farming (like Rammus)

Soloing middle (or any lane, if a jungler is present) is within Teemo's ability. Teemo is a decent harasser and farmer, and can keep certain carries suppressed during the laning/farming phase. You will SLAP people of average skill around, especially those who become timid after tanking a some damage. Skilled players will give you MUCH more trouble, as they are probably playing heroes better suited to solo and/or beat a solo Teeemo, and they KNOW it.

Casters are dangerous. They can unload on you at an instant if you're not careful, and your blind/exhaust does not slow them down much at all. Take care and choose your harassment shots carefully. Some casters, Annie for example, can hang around looking not very threatening, hit level 6, flash, unload, and kill you in under 2 seconds. This has only happened to me once, ever. Never again. Make this mistake- you will not again. Temmo. Hates. Casters.

Disablers are tough on Teemo. This style of Teemo relies on quick strikes and getting a lot of shots on target in a short span. Teemo's range allows him to hang with disablers and harass them a bit, but expect to be harassed back.

Healers are a pain, but do not pose much of a threat. They are nigh unharassable, but they don't pose much of a threat unless paired with an excellent pusher, since you have excellent control over the creep line yourself. Determine if you want to harass the healer or their lanemate, or not at all. You can make them burn heals and mana with harassment if you please, although most competent healers will be able to just shrug you poisons off.

Tanks and melee are usually the easiest to play against. Harass them to no end and push them like mad. Be careful around them and know their abilities, but take advantage of your range and poison abilities. Make them pay for every last hit or attack they land with a poison dart of your own!

Mobility champions like to eat Teemo as well. They can get right up in his face and burst him down even with his blind. They take his range out of the equation and prey on his weaknesses. Akali, Xin Zhao, Katarina fit this description. Jumpers like Jax and Pantheon also have the same kind of effect.

Make your enemies pay for every shot they take at you. Make them take more damage than you in every exchange. Make them wary of you. Make them think twice about harassing you. Make them afraid of you.

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ABILITIES
Simply put, prioritize your poison (E) and upgrade your Mushroom whenever possible. Grab one rank of Move Quick (W) at level 4. I will usually take poison first, but starting with Blinding Dart can help in early jungle grabs or level 1 teamfights.

Camouflage

After standing still for 2 seconds, you will cloak. Simple enough. I don't think it meshes well with Teemo's playstyle, but because it is there, one should utilize it to its fullest.

Scouting your enemies: Before the creep waves have started, carefully rush out to a strategic position and cloak. This is particularly useful when soloing mid, as you can cloak just off-center and get an auto-attack off on your opponent unopposed. This starts the game with them taking the first damage, as well as setting the tone for the matchup that you are not one to be messed with. You also can act as a ward for your team/lanemate.

Some good zoning control can come from this early: Going invisible will deter enemies from wanting to get close, as the 40% attack speed buff will HURT early.

In patch 1.0.0.97, the following changes to stealth were implemented:
- Exhaust, Teleport, Flash, Heal, Clarity, Rally, Ignite, and Smite now remove stealth when used
- Cleanse, Fortify, Clairvoyance, Ghost, and Revive can be used without breaking stealth

Patch 1.0.0.103 made the following changes:
1) Being invulnerable will now prevent Teemo from Camouflaging. Specifically, Zhonya's Ring and Guardian Angel's effects will block Camouflage while they are active.
2) Recalling and Teleporting will now prevent Teemo from Camouflaging

Blinding Dart

Blinding Dart and Exhaust may seem redundant at first, but have great synergy when examined more closely.

In one-on-one situations, you can Blind, attack, Exhaust when Blind wears off, and maybe blind again to finish the fight while taking negligible damage.

In teamfights, you can shut down their carry using the same combo. Alternatively, you can hamper the efforts of two high-threat champions by using blind on one and exhaust on the other.

Blinding Dart is a good source of damage on AP/Hybrid Teemo. Use it wisely if your team really needs the blind on-demand, though.

Against Master Yi, wait until AFTER he Alpha-Strikes, as getting hit with the dart while he is phased out will do nothing to him. If you fire and he manages to Alpha-Strike before it hits, you are in trouble.

NOTE: Blinding Dart DOES NOT apply poison. You must get an auto-attack on target for it to apply.

Move Quick

Make sure that you always have Move Quick on. It greatly increases your mobility for a small up-front mana cost (it does not drain mana while it is active).

If you get hit while move quick is active, you get knocked out of it and it goes on a 6 second cooldown. If you need to escape from an enemy, wait for an opportunity in between their attacks to activate Move Quick.

Always activate move quick when you're running from fights, transitioning lanes, or were hit once and knocked out of it (whilst in a situation in which you will not be hit again.)

Move quick is not "cancelled" by recalling, so it will still be active after you return to base.

Do NOT apply move quick before rushing into a quick harassment/mini-engagement. You might need Move Quick to get back out, and the 6 second cooldown could spell the difference between life and death.

Toxic Shot

One of the reasons I put a fair amount of attack speed on Teemo is that of the poison distribution strategy. Spreading poisons within each creep wave controls the progression of the lane. That is, you can push the creep line quickly by attacking each creep once in a rapid fashion, thus "spreading the poison," or you can refrain from poisoning any creeps and focus on solely last hitting creeps to reel in the creep line closer to your tower. It is much more desirable to be closer to your tower than farther out near easy brush ganks. Ideally, you should ONLY be last hitting and harassing.

Weakening the entire creep line may spook the enemy into playing more defensively, allowing you to deny them xp and gold, as well as get a few shots into their collective backsides as they run when their creeps melt. Conversely, having a strong enemy creep line and only last hitting gives you more power to focus on champions and last hitting. Observe your opponent and choose your methods.

WARNING: An active poison DOT (damage over time) effect on an enemy champion WILL draw tower aggro. Use caution when pushing enemy champions into their towers, as any poison-inducing shots you put into them will make their tower prioritize you over your own creeps.

An active poison DOT can also steal neutral rune buffs (Golem, Lizard) from allies that you were trying to help. Lay off attacking the creep a little earlier than you would usually in order to not take the buff from a teammate.

As mentioned before, the poison "first application" effect procs on the first hit, and every second afterward. This means that even with an attack speed of say, 2.0 (that's 2 attacks/second), you're not getting 2 attacks plus 2*(0.15*AP) every second from toxic shot's instant first application.

Noxious Trap (MUSHROOMS!)

MUSHROOMS! They are much, much more than simple "mines" that slow and DOT.

NEW MUSHROOMS!
* Teemo now gains a "stored mushroom" charge every 30/26/22 seconds. Maximum three charges
* Each cast requires and consumes a charge
* Time to gain a charge is reduced by cooldown reduction effects
* Time to gain next charge does not progress while you are at maximum charges
* Teemo always has two charges stored upon reviving at base
* Cooldown on placing a trap reduced to 1 second from 20
* Damage changed to 250/475/700 from 350/500/650

The new 1.0.0.103 mushrooms remain essentially the same strategically, only now you can store up to THREE of them! This means that you can bank a few mushrooms to QUICKLY set up an area for a gank/teamfight/escape.

You can place mushrooms in many different kinds of ways. I will narrow each kind of mushroom into a few categories:

-Recon
-Defense
-Offense
-Special

Recon
Recon mushrooms are like wards that explode. These function similar to, but are NOT wards. Their sight radius is tiny compared to them, but they can still give useful information. Recon shrooms are more akin to tripwires; when one goes off, something is there. Recon shrooms bring map awareness, whereas defensive shrooms (semantics, blah blah :P ) are defined differently in my book of a guide.

There are a few key places that you should recon' shroom as often as possible: Dragon, along the river (ends, exit/entry points of jungle), neutral rune creeps, common jungle paths and Baron (once leveling catches up to the point of feasibility of doing Baron).

Other good locations for recon shrooms are common gank pile bushes and high traffic areas.

Although I do not expressly desire to have these mushrooms detonate, the detonation is still a bonus and can allow for a quick gank attempt, but usually the mere detonation of the shroom is enough to send the tripee back to safety.

Defense
What's the difference between recon and defensive shrooms? Good question... In reality, I define defensive shrooms as ones that I intend to have detonated. These are the mushrooms that most often cover escapes and deter/slow ganks for myself and teammates.

Dropping mushrooms in side-brush is always needed to warn of ganks coming from other lanes. Be sure to shroom up brush you have pushed passed.

Offensive
Offensive mushrooms do a few key things: eliminate creep waves, hamper enemy movement in your lane, and create obstacles during teamfights. You can drop a 'shroom near the ranged creeps in the line and it will explode a second later, heavily damaging the creeps or outright killing them. (This also applies to neutral creep camps). Try dropping mushrooms in the path that opposing creeps will use when they are pushing a lane. This kind of mushrooming will stop/slow the advance of the lane whilst you deal with another lange (also great for mantaining some pressure when you need to fountain).

Dropping mushrooms where creeps won't hit it is also a strong tactic. Dropping a mushroom in your lane also alters how mobile the enemies in your lane can be. If they see your mushroom, most likely they will try to avoid it (unless they want to purposely pop it and regenerate/lifesteal the health back). This creates a zone in which they will avoid, tightening your control of the lane. You can maneuver yourself and try to "sheepdog" them into it or force them to retreat because they are stuck between you, a mushroom, a hard place and their base. If your enemy does not see you drop the mushroom, you can "sheepdog" or lure them into it, setting up a gank, or just dropping some more damage on them.

Don't be afraid to drop a mushroom during a teamfight. The extra damage and slow always helps, and it could possibly save a retreating ally or finish a running enemy after your unfortunate demise. There is a no more fitting "KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!" moment than dying to a mushroom that was dropped by a Teemo you had just killed.

Try anticipating where an imminent team fight will happen. Block some escape routes with mushrooms beforehand. Another thing mushrooms can do is reak havoc with Guardian Angel and Zilean ults. Good players will instantly recognize the effect and seal off the reviving player's escape routes. Try to help box out the reviving-retreating player with a mushroom.

Special

Now, I bet you're wondering what else mushrooms could possibly used for after reading the previous few paragraphs! Wait, there's more! In all seriousness, there are a few more creative, but subtle tactics concerning mushrooms. I'll outline a few:

Backdooring: Forgetting the ethical arguments of backdooring, Teemo + a champion that has teleport and can backdoor = win. Drop a mushroom waaaay behind enemy lines in a spot unlikely to be trampled upon, and watch your Master Yi teleport far behind the creep lines to grab a tower.

Blocks: Mushrooms are the ultimate in personal defense. No kidding. Did you know that you could use a mushroom to block Blitzcrank's grab? How about Mundo's cleaver? Morgana's shackle? Ezreal's Q? You can! Quickly drop a mushroom and run behind it and watch as Morgana shackles your mushroom instead of you, allowing you to escape certain doom. Blocks are useful to give yourself some cover in open space; it is easier to dodge a skillshot than it is to see a skillshot coming and block it on the spot. I have also heard a RUMOR that Teemo can block Tristana's ultimate with a mushroom, but this is untested and unconfirmed.

Towers: Towers also prioritize mushrooms over you; drop a mushroom and commence getting the last few hits in on the tower before it focuses you. (Towers prioritize hitting mushrooms before creeps and champions not currently damaging other champions).

Slows: Need to leave a lane, but the creep line is pushing too far? Throw out a good poision spread and drop a mushroom in the middle of the lane where creeps will path. It will severely damage the first few creeps as well as slow them, giving you time to heal, buy, and return. You can also use this technique while kiting creeps around a mushroom, thus leading the melee creeps around the mushroom, while pulling the ranged creeps into it.

Tips on mushroom placement:
The shortest path from Point A to Point B is a straight line, huh? In this game, champions always take the path of least resistance. That is,, champions will hug walls to shave fractions of a second off of their transit times automatically. Use this to your advantage! Place mushrooms along popular corners.

Be unpredictable! Don't put your mushroom in the same spot over and over. Keep the enemy guessing! A good concept stemming from this comes from the scouting mushrooms I place at the sides of the river while soloing middle. I start by placing them in spots that take advantage of champion pathing. I then switch it up to place them in spots where they WON'T hit enemy champions. Why? It gives the apparent ganker a false sense of security. Last time they tried to gank you, a 'shroom blew up in their face, and the Teemo ran. This time, no explosion. "Great! The Teemo has no idea I'm here!" the ganker thinks as Teemo calls in his own gank.

The two most important things to remember about 'shrooms: place often and be creative! If you don't know where to drop mushrooms, just drop it wherever you are. Most likely eight minutes down the road something will be bound to hit it! Be creative and unpredictable in your placement, and soon enemies will be afraid wherever they tread!

Special note to remember: Mushhrooms use the AP you have at the moment of detonation, not when you drop them. (Works both ways- AP modification by items like Guinsoo's Rageblade will not result in a higher damage mushroom after the buff is no longer active. Conversely, mushrooms placed before getting another AP item will scale up to your current AP).

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Closing Thoughts

Congratulations for finishing this guide (I know I will never finish it...).

Credits
Thanks to Friend and his Massive Teemo Guide for being a large inspiration on picking up Teemo and figuring out how to play the game on a deeper level.

To everyone who has destroyed me in-game terribly, lost to me horribly, or been in a close game with me, for inspiring me to do better.

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!